Location and time based filtering of broadcast information

ABSTRACT

Techniques for sending and receiving broadcast information are described. In an aspect, broadcast metadata may be generated for broadcast information and may include location and time criteria used by terminals to filter the broadcast information. Each location and time criterion may include (i) a location criterion given by a target location and a presence or absence requirement and (ii) a time criterion given by a time period in which the location criterion applies. A terminal may receive the broadcast metadata prior to or with the broadcast information, obtain location and time criteria from the broadcast metadata, and filter the broadcast information based on the location and time criteria. The terminal may evaluate each location and time criterion by determining its location within a specified time period and determining whether its location is within or outside a specified target location, as indicated by the presence or absence requirement.

OF BROADCAST INFORMATION

I. Claim of Priority under 35 U.S.C. §119

The present application for patent claims priority to Provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 60/978,104, entitled “LOCATION AND TIME BASEDFILTERING OF BROADCASTS,” filed Oct. 5, 2007, Provisional U.S.Application Ser. No. 60/990,890 entitled “LOCATION BASED BROADCASTENHANCEMENT,” filed Nov. 28, 2007, Provisional U.S. Application Ser. No.61/007,349, entitled “LOCATION BASED SERVICES ENHANCEMENT WITHNOTIFICATION,” filed Dec. 11, 2007, and Provisional U.S. ApplicationSer. No. 61/029,252 entitled “LOCATION BASED SERVICES ENHANCEMENT WITHNOTIFICATION,” filed Feb. 15, 2008, all assigned to the assignee hereofand expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

I. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and morespecifically to techniques for sending and receiving broadcastinformation.

II. Background

A communication network may broadcast various types of information suchas commercial advertisements, news, weather and travel advisories,segments of film, educational items, television shows or sports events,public warning messages, etc. A given user may be interested inreceiving only some of the broadcast information sent by the network.The user may manually identify broadcast information of interest to theuser and may either save or display the broadcast information on areceiver, e.g., a cellular phone. This manual filtering of broadcastinformation may be tedious. It may be desirable to automaticallyidentify broadcast information of potential interest to the user.

SUMMARY

Techniques for sending and receiving broadcast information are describedherein. In an aspect, broadcast metadata may be generated for broadcastinformation and may comprise location and time criteria used byterminals to filter the broadcast information. The location and timecriteria may comprise at least one location and time criterion. In onedesign, each location and time criterion may comprise (i) a locationcriterion given by a target location and a presence or absencerequirement and (ii) a time criterion given by a time period in whichthe location criterion applies. This time period may be in the past,present, or future.

In one design, a terminal may receive broadcast metadata associated withbroadcast information, e.g., prior to or with the broadcast information.The terminal may obtain location and time criteria from the broadcastmetadata and may filter the broadcast information based on the locationand time criteria. The terminal may evaluate each location and timecriterion by (i) determining its location within a specified time periodand (ii) determining whether its location is within or outside aspecified target location, as indicated by the presence or absencerequirement. The terminal may combine the results of all location andtime criteria to determine whether or not to receive and/or present thebroadcast information.

The terminal may skip receiving the broadcast information if thelocation and time criteria are not satisfied. The terminal may receivethe broadcast information at one time instant and may present thebroadcast information at the same or later time instant if the locationand time criteria are satisfied. The broadcast information may berelated to an event occurring over a designated time interval. Theterminal may receive the broadcast information prior to the designatedtime interval (e.g., during off-peak traffic hours) and may present thisinformation to the user during the designated time interval.

Various aspects and features of the disclosure are described in furtherdetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example network deployment.

FIG. 2 shows transmission of a service guide with broadcast metadata.

FIG. 3 shows example transmission and presentation of broadcastinformation.

FIG. 4 shows a process for receiving broadcast information.

FIG. 5 shows a process for sending broadcast information.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a terminal, a network, a locationserver/center, and a broadcast center.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The techniques described herein may be used to receive information fromvarious wireless and wireline communication networks. The terms“network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. For example, thetechniques may be used to receive information from cellular networks,broadcast networks, etc. The techniques may be used to receive broadcastinformation sent to all users, multicast information sent to a group ofusers, and unicast information sent to a specific user. For clarity,certain aspects of the techniques are described below for receivingbroadcast information from a communication network.

FIG. 1 shows an example deployment 100 supporting the techniquesdescribed herein. A terminal 110 may communicate with one or morewireless and/or wireline networks 120 to obtain communication servicesand/or data connectivity. Terminal 110 may communicate with one or morebase stations in a wireless network and/or one or more servers in awireline network. Terminal 110 may also receive broadcast informationfrom a broadcast network 130. Terminal 110 may be stationary or mobileand may also be referred to as a mobile station, a user equipment, anaccess terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. Terminal 110 may bea cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless device,a wireline device, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, a personalcomputer (PC), a broadcast receiver, etc. The functions of terminal 110may be spread over more than one device, e.g., transmission andreception may be supported in a PDA or a cellular phone while anassociated laptop or PC may perform filtering of broadcast informationand presentation of filtered broadcast information to a user.

Terminal 110 may also receive signals from one or more satellites 190,which may be part of the United States Global Positioning System (GPS),the European Galileo system, the Russian GLONASS system, or some otherGlobal Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Terminal 110 may measuresignals from satellites 190 and obtain pseudo-range measurements for thesatellites. Terminal 110 may also measure signals from base stations ina wireless network and obtain timing measurements for the base stations.The pseudo-range measurements and/or the timing measurements may be usedto derive a location estimate for terminal 110. A location estimate isalso referred to as a position estimate, a position fix, etc.

Network(s) 120 may include a wireless network that provides radiocommunication for terminals located within its coverage area. A wirelessnetwork may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a TimeDivision Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division MultipleAccess (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) network, aSingle-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) network, etc. Alternatively oradditionally, network(s) 120 may include a wireline network such as alocal area network (LAN), a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, apacket cable network, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, atelephone network, the Internet, and/or other voice and data networks.Broadcast network 130 may provide broadcast services and may implementMediaFLO™, Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds (DVB-H), IntegratedServices Digital Broadcasting for Terrestrial Television Broadcasting(ISDB-T), or some other digital transmission technology. Broadcastnetwork 130 may also assist terminal 110 in determining its location.For example, terminal 110 may measure signal timing information from oneor more broadcast transmitters and may determine its location viatriangulation, trilateration, or some other means.

A location server/center 140 may comprise a location server thatsupports positioning for terminal 110 and other location services (LCS)clients. The location server may perform various functions to supportpositioning, e.g., calculate location estimates, deliver assistance datato terminals, perform functions for security, etc. Positioning refers toa process to determine a geographic or civil location estimate for anLCS target, e.g., obtain latitude, longitude and altitude coordinatesfor geographic location or a street address for civil location. Thelocation server may support one or more location architectures/solutionssuch as Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) from Open Mobile Alliance(OMA), 3GPP control plane from an organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP), 3GPP2 control plane from an organizationnamed “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2), etc. The locationserver may comprise a SUPL Positioning Center (SPC), a 3GPP ServingMobile Location Center (SMLC), a 3GPP2 Position Determining Entity(PDE), etc.

Location server/center 140 may also comprise a location center thatsupports location services for terminal 110 and other LCS clients. Thelocation center may perform various functions such as support oflocation services, support of subscriber privacy, authorization,authentication, charging/billing, service management, etc. The locationcenter may comprise a SUPL Location Center (SLC), a SUPL LocationPlatform (SLP), a 3GPP Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC), a 3GPP2Mobile Position Center (MPC), etc. The location server and locationcenter may be integrated (as shown in FIG. 1) or may be separateentities.

A broadcast center 150 may provide broadcast information for broadcastservices. The broadcast information may comprise any information thatmay be of interest to users, e.g., advertisements, news, etc. Broadcastcenter 150 or some other entity may also provide broadcast metadata forthe broadcast information. The broadcast metadata may comprise dataregarding the broadcast information and may also be referred to asbroadcast description data, description information, broadcastdescription, filtering data, metadata, etc. A storage unit 160 may storethe broadcast information and broadcast metadata. Broadcast center 150may provide the broadcast information and broadcast metadata tonetwork(s) 120 and/or broadcast network 130. The broadcast informationand broadcast metadata may be sent together or separately by network(s)120 and/or broadcast network 130.

The broadcast metadata may enable a terminal to perform initialfiltering of the broadcast information, typically in conjunction withstored user preferences. The broadcast metadata may enable the terminalto make a decision regarding whether to receive the broadcastinformation and present this information to the user. The userpreferences may be entered previously by the user into the terminal ormay be ascertained in other manners, e.g., by observing the userpreference for manually selecting previous broadcast information and thecriteria that apply to the selected broadcast information. The initialfiltering by the terminal may reduce burden on the user of having toscan through and select particular broadcasts from possibly a largenumber broadcasts occurring at the same time and/or over a period oftime (e.g., day or week). Based on the outcome of the initial filtering,the terminal may alert the user to the presence of the broadcastinformation before, during, or after it has been received. The terminalmay also store and/or present the broadcast information if it is ofpotential interest to the user or may silently ignore (e.g., not receiveand store) the broadcast information. The manner of alerting the user tobroadcast information that passes the initial filtering may also dependon the filtering. For example, an audible alarm may be provided forbroadcasts of an emergency nature whereas commercial broadcasts maymerely be saved and provided to the user following an explicit request.

In general, the broadcast metadata may comprise any data regarding theassociated broadcast information. For example, the broadcast metadatamay summarize various aspects of the broadcast information such as thesubject(s) of the broadcast information, the source of the broadcastinformation, entities or objects (e.g., companies, persons, ormerchandise) featured in the broadcast information, the category orcategories of the broadcast information (e.g., news, travel, weather,sports, etc.), the dates and times related to the broadcast information,etc. The broadcast metadata may comprise other data, as described below.

A user may define items of interest to the user and methods of beinginformed when such items of interest are detected. A terminal may filterbroadcast information by examining the associated broadcast metadata inlight of the user preferences. If there is a match, then the terminalmay alert the user, as specified, and may also store and/or present thebroadcast information to the user.

Comprehensive and detailed broadcast metadata may be valuable to theuser in significantly reducing the amount of time the user mightotherwise have to spend in manually sorting through less detailedbroadcast metadata or broadcast information itself in order to determinewhether the broadcast is of interest to the user. Broadcast metadata mayalso be useful in reducing the amount of broadcast information that isreceived by a terminal and possibly charged to the user by the broadcastnetwork operator. Broadcast metadata may allow a broadcast sender totarget users that may be interested in the broadcast information. Usersmay place higher value on and may be more likely to receive (e.g., lookat and/or listen to) broadcast information that has undergone extensivefiltering based on preferred criteria. There may thus be an incentivefor both users and broadcast providers to employ many types of filteringcriteria in the broadcast metadata. In addition, network operators maycharge users and/or broadcast providers for conveying broadcast metadatain addition to broadcast information and hence may also benefit from theuse of detailed broadcast filtering.

In an aspect, the broadcast metadata may comprise location and timecriteria composed of location criteria and associated time criteria. Thelocation and time criteria may also be referred to as temporal locationcriteria, location filter, location and time requirements, etc. Theterms “criteria” and “requirements” are used interchangeably herein. Alocation criterion may be given by a target location in which apotential recipient terminal should be within (or outside of) in orderfor the broadcast information to be pertinent. A time criterion may begiven by a time period in which the terminal should be within (oroutside of) the target location. This time period may be in the past,present, or future. If the terminal is within (or outside of) the targetlocation during the specified time period, then the terminal may givehigher priority to receiving the associated broadcast information andproviding this information to the user.

The location and time criteria may be related to the location(s) andtime(s) of event(s) associated with the broadcast information, e.g., asales event, a sporting event, an entertainment event, etc. The event(s)may be in the past, present, or future.

Examples of events in the past may include (a) a crime or accident wherewitnesses are being sought via broadcast information and (b) a massevent in the past (e.g., sports, entertainment, commercial, etc.) wherefollow up information needs to be sent to those who attended. Thelocation and time criteria may be related to the locations and times atwhich the broadcast metadata and broadcast information can be received.

Higher priority may be assigned to broadcast information when thelocation and time criteria in the associated broadcast metadata are met.The higher priority may determine whether the broadcast information isreceived and possibly stored by the terminal, when and how the user isnotified, when and how the broadcast information is provided to theuser, etc. The priority of the broadcast information may also bedetermined based on other factors besides the location and timecriteria.

In general, the location and time criteria may relate to past, present,and/or future location of a potential recipient terminal. The locationcriteria may be given by a set of target locations L₁, L₂, . . . ,L_(N), where N may be one or greater. A target location may begeographic in nature and may comprise latitude, longitude and possiblyaltitude coordinates. A target location may also be civil in nature andmay comprise street address including town or city and countrydesignations and possibly building, floor, and room designation. Atarget location may include desired accuracy for the geographic or civilarea. A target location may represent a single point, a small area orvolume, a larger contiguous area or volume (e.g., a circular geographicarea or the total extent of a city), a set of non-contiguous areas orvolumes (e.g., the extents of several cities), etc. An area may cover a2-dimensional (2D) space whereas a volume may cover a 3-dimensional (3D)space. A volume may be useful, e.g., to specify certain floors of ahigh-rise building. In the case of area and volume descriptions, aterminal may assume higher priority for the broadcast information if theterminal is within an area or volume provided in a location criterion.

The time criteria may relate to the subject of the broadcast, e.g., thedate and time of a future sales event. The time criteria may also relateto the location of the terminal (and thus generally of the user)relative to the subject of the broadcast. The time criteria may be givenin various formats such as a time period defined by either a start timeand an end time or a start time and a duration. The start time and endtime may each refer to the past, present, or future. Time may be givenin any format and with any level of precision, e.g., by month, week,date, hour, minute, second, etc. Time may also reference an absoluteglobal time system (e.g., GMT or UTC), a regional time system (e.g., USEastern Daylight Time) or may be relative to when the broadcast metadatais received (e.g. by providing the difference between the start and endtimes and current time). More than one time period may also be provided.

In one design, the location and time criteria for broadcast informationmay specify the presence or absence of a terminal for each of a set oftarget locations, as follows:

Location time criteria=(PA ₁ at L ₁ during D₁)LO ₁(PA ₂ at L ₂ during D₂)LO ₂(PA ₃ at L ₃ during D ₃) . . . LO _(N-1) (PA _(N) at L _(N) duringD _(N)),  Eq (1)

where

-   -   L_(n) denotes a target location for the n-th location and time        criterion, for 1≦n≦N,    -   D_(n) denotes a time period or time instant for the n-th        location and time criterion,    -   PA_(n) denotes a presence or absence requirement for the n-th        location and time criterion, and    -   LO_(n) denotes a logical operation, which may be a logical OR or        a logical AND.

In the design shown in equation (1), the location and time criteria aredefined by a set of N target locations L₁ through L_(N), where ingeneral N≧1. Each target location L_(n), for 1≦n≦N, may be a singlelocation point, a single area or volume, or a set of areas and/orvolumes. N time periods D₁ through D_(N) may be provided for the Ntarget locations L₁ through L_(N), respectively. Each time period D_(n)may be defined by a start time TS_(n) and an end time TE_(n), orD_(n)=[TS_(n), TE_(n)]. TS_(n) and TE_(n) may each be defined in thepast, present, or future, with TE_(n) occurring at or after TS_(n).

In one design, the presence or absence requirement PA_(n) for eachlocation criterion may have one of the following values:

1. Present for some of the time period with at least a probability ofP_(n),

2. Present for the entire time period with at least a probability ofP_(n),

3. Absent for some of the time period with at least a probability ofP_(n), or

4. Absent for the entire time period with at least a probability ofP_(n).

The probability P_(n) may be any value between 0 and 1, or 0≦P_(n)≦1.

The location and time criteria in equation (1) combine N individuallocation and time criteria to obtain an overall requirement for aterminal. Each location and time criterion may be expressed as:

LR_(n)=PA_(n) at L_(n) during D_(n),  Eq (2)

where LR_(n) denotes the n-th location and time criterion.

If the probabilities P_(n) are all 1s, then each location and timecriterion in equation (1) specifies whether the terminal is required tobe present or absent at or within target location L_(n) during all orpart of time period D_(n), depending on the value of PA_(n). If thelocation of the terminal is known (e.g., because the location wasrecorded historically or can be predicted with reasonable certainty inthe future), then a truth value of either true or false may be assignedto each location and time criterion. The truth values of the Nindividual location and time criteria may be combined by the logicaloperations LO_(n) to obtain a final truth value for the overallrequirement in equation (1). The final truth value may indicate whetheror not the terminal satisfies the location and time criteria.

Historic locations of a terminal may not be known exactly. In somecases, the stored location of the terminal may refer to a large area inwhich the terminal was known to be within and may not refer to a precisepoint. In other cases, the location may have been obtained as a pointbut with an unknown error due to location computation errors. In yetsome other cases, a historic location may be obtained by interpolatingbetween two known locations obtained at different times and may alsocontain an error. Future locations of the terminal may also beuncertain, e.g., if these locations are obtained as a result ofanalyzing previous location history.

To mitigate the effects of location errors and uncertainty, a value ofless than 1 may be used for probability P_(n) for target location L_(n)in equation (1). When P_(n) is less than 1 for a given location and timecriterion, the criterion may be deemed to be true if the terminal meetsthe presence or absence requirement with a probability of at leastP_(n), and may be deemed to be false otherwise. The overall requirementmay then be evaluated as true or false by combining the truth values ofthe N individual location and time criteria, as described above.

The location and time criteria in equation (1) may be simplified invarious manners. In one design, the same target location L may be usedfor each individual target location L_(n). In another design, the samepresence or absence requirement PA may be used for each individualpresence or absence requirement PA_(n). In yet another design, the sametime period D may be used for each individual time period D_(n). In yetanother design, the same probability value P (e.g., P=0.5) may be usedfor each individual probability P_(n). In yet another design, the starttime for the time period D_(n) may be omitted and may be assumed torefer to current time. The time periods may also be replaced by a singletime instant, which may be given by date and time, just time for thecurrent date, etc. Any combination of the simplifications describedabove may also be used.

The time periods D_(n) in equation (1) may be generalized by allowingeach time period D_(n) to contain multiple sub-durations, each with itsown start and end date and time. For example, D_(n) may be defined as6:00 am to 6:00 pm on a certain Monday together with the same timeperiod on the following Tuesday and Wednesday.

The presence or absence requirements PA_(n) for each location criterionin equation (1) may be generalized and made more precise by providingthe probability of being present or absent at a given location L_(n)within a given time period D_(n) for at least a time T_(n), where T_(n)is less than or equal to the total time period defined by D_(n) and neednot be contiguous. The values of T_(n) may express more preciselywhether the whole of D_(n) (T_(n) equal to the entire duration in D_(n))or only some of D_(n) (T_(n) less than the entire duration in D_(n)) isintended. As an example, D_(n) may be the time period that starts at9:00 am on a certain Monday and ends at 6:00 pm, thereby including 9hours, while T_(n) may be set to 3 hours. In that case, the presence orabsence requirement would refer to the terminal being present or absentfor at least 3 hours overall at the given location L_(n) during theperiod of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on the particular Monday. This may be moreprecise than referring to the terminal being present or absent for someof the period of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. When T_(n) is specified for eachD_(n), the presence or absence requirements PA_(n) may be simplified toone of the following two alternatives:

-   -   1. Present at location L_(n) for at least duration T_(n)        (contiguous or non-contiguous) during overall time period D_(n)        with at least a probability of P_(n), and    -   2. Absent at location L_(n) for at least duration T_(n)        (contiguous or non-contiguous) during overall time period D_(n)        with at least a probability of P_(n).

In another design, the location and time criteria may be specified asfollows:

Location time criteria=LTC_(A)LO_(A)LTC_(B)LO_(B)LTC_(C) . . . ,  Eq (3)

where

-   -   LTC_(i) denotes a location and time criterion, for iεA, B, C, .        . . , and    -   LO_(i) denotes a logical operation, which may be a logical AND        or a logical OR.

LTC_(i) may be defined as shown in equation (1). The design in equation(3) allows multiple location time criteria to be combined logically toform more complex location and time criteria.

In yet another design, the location and time criteria may be specifiedin a recursive manner as follows:

Location time criteria=Expression(i){binary operationExpression(j)},  Eq (4)

where

-   -   { . . . } denotes an optional extension, which may or may not be        present,    -   Expression( ) denotes {Expression( ) binary operation        Expression( )}, or {Unary operation Expression( )}, or (single        location and time criterion),    -   binary operation denotes logical OR, logical AND, or some other        operation on two arguments, and    -   unary operation denotes logical NOT or some other operation on        one argument.

The single location and time criterion may be given as:

Single location and time criterion=PA at L during D,  Eq (5)

where

-   -   L denotes a target location for the location and time criterion,    -   D denotes a time period for the location and time criterion, and    -   PA denotes a presence or absence requirement for the location        and time criterion.

To evaluate equation (4), the truth value of each single location andtime criterion may first be determined as either true or false, asdescribed for equation (1). The truth values for all single location andtime criteria may be combined using the unary and/or binary operationslinking them to yield a final true or false value for the overallrequirement in equation (4). A true value for the overall requirementmay indicate that the location and time criteria for the broadcastinformation are satisfied. The user may be provided with or alerted tothe availability of the broadcast information, e.g., provided certainother user criteria are also satisfied by the broadcast metadata. Afalse value may indicate that the location and time criteria are notsatisfied and that it is not necessary to inform the user of thebroadcast information.

In yet another design, the location and time criteria may be specifiedin a recursive manner as follows:

Location filter(i)=Location filter(j) logical operation Locationfilter(k), OR

Location filter(i)=logical operation Location filter(k), OR  Eq (6)

Location filter(i)=Location and time criterion(m),

where

-   -   Location and time criterion(m) may be as shown in equation (5),        and    -   Location filter( ) may comprise one or more location and time        criteria.

The designs in equations (1) to (6) use truth values of true and false.A terminal may decide whether it does or does not satisfy eachindividual location and time criterion, e.g., PA_(n) at L_(n) duringD_(n) in equation (1). In some instances, the terminal may partiallysatisfy the N individual location and time criteria, e.g., satisfy somebut not all of the location and time criteria, or satisfy the locationand time criteria with a probability lower than but close to thespecified probability.

In one design, the terminal may combine the probabilities of satisfyingthe N individual location and time criteria instead of the truth valuesof these location and time criteria. Combining probabilities (instead oftruth values) for individual location and time criteria may enable moreflexible evaluation of the location and time criteria. Equations (1) to(6) may still be used, albeit with a modification for the presence orabsence requirement PA_(n). In one design, PA_(n) may be defined withthe probability aspect removed and may have one of the following values:

-   -   1. Present for some of the time period,    -   2. Present for the entire time period,    -   3. Absent for some of the time period, or    -   4. Absent for the entire time period.

Equations (1) to (6) may now define precise requirements for location,which may be composed of a number of individual requirements combinedtogether by logical operations. To compute the value of the overallrequirement, the terminal may first compute the probability of eachindividual location and time criterion (e.g., of the form PA_(n) atL_(n) during D_(n) in equation (1) or PA at L during D in equation (5))being true. The terminal may then combine the probabilities of theindividual location and time criteria using known formulae fordetermining probability of unions and intersections of multiple events.For example, the following formulae may be used to combine probabilitiesof two location and time criteria A and B,

Probability(A AND B)=Probability(A)*Probability(B), and  Eq (7)

Probability(A OR B)=Probability(A)+Probability(B)−Probability(A ANDB).  Eq (8)

Equation (7) assumes that A and B are independent events and is anapproximation in general. Equation (8) relies on equation (7).

The terminal may compute the overall probability of the entirecombination of location and time criteria being true by combining theprobabilities of the individual location and time criteria. The terminalmay use the overall probability of satisfying all of the individuallocation and time criteria to decide whether to provide the broadcastinformation to the user. For example, a threshold probability may bedefined (e.g., by the user or a broadcast provider), and the terminalmay provide the broadcast information to the user if the overallprobability exceeds the threshold probability.

The location and time criteria described herein may depend on theterminal being able to determine its past, current, and/or futurelocations. The terminal may know its current location via use of anetwork-supported location solution such as 3GPP, 3GPP2, OMA SUPL, etc.The terminal may also ascertain its current location via use of locationcapability within the terminal, e.g., GPS. The location of the terminalmay be geographic or civil and may be given in any form (e.g.,latitude/longitude, a cell ID, a zip code, etc.).

Past or historic locations of the terminal may be obtained in variousmanners. Past locations may be obtained by periodically obtaining andstoring the location of the terminal, e.g., every hour or some otherinterval. The terminal may also store its location whenever the locationis obtained for any application (e.g., direction finding). The terminalmay also obtain and store its location whenever built-in sensors detectsignificant movement (e.g., movement over some minimum distance from anypreviously determined location) and may store an indication of fixedlocation at other times. For all of these cases, the locations of theterminal at other times (e.g., at every quarter or half hour) may beobtained by interpolating the stored locations.

Future locations of the terminal may also be obtained in variousmanners. In one design, future locations may be predicted orextrapolated based on current speed and direction for a moving user andpossible inference of a particular route (e.g., along a highway orrailway line). This design may be applicable for short periods ahead. Inanother design, future locations may be inferred from past behavior,e.g., by detecting similar locations historically for certain days andtimes and assuming that this will recur in the future. For example, theuser may normally be at home between 8:00 pm and 8:00 am each day, atwork between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm each weekday, etc. Regular movement(e.g., for commuting) and periods of fixed location (e.g., at work orhome) at fixed times on certain days in the past may be identified andused to predict future locations. For example, if a user employs a fixedroute and an approximately fixed schedule for commuting, then thelocation of the user along the commuting route at some future time maybe predicted with some accuracy, once the user has started the commute,even if the commute is quite long. In yet another design, futurelocations may be obtained by gaining access to the user's appointmentschedule or travel itinerary, e.g., if carried on the terminal oraccessible remotely by the terminal. In yet another design, futurelocations may be manually entered by the user, e.g., for significantevents such as vacation or business trip. The terminal may assign aprobability to a past or future location due to uncertainty or possibleerror in the historic or future location.

A location estimate for the terminal may include an area (e.g., acircle, an ellipse, or a circle sector) where the terminal should belocated along with a probability (between 0 and 1) that the terminal isactually within this area. Probability may thus be given as part of thelocation estimate and may be used directly in the location and timecriteria. A historic location may have more uncertainty due to thelikelihood of having to interpolate between prior location estimatesobtained at different times. Similarly, a future location may have moreuncertainty due to the use of prediction (e.g., based on past habitualbehavior). The probabilities of historic and future locations may beupdated accordingly to take into account additional uncertainty due tointerpolation, prediction, etc. A probability of 1 (or 100% certainty)may be used for simplification if the target area(s) is sufficientlylarge (e.g., an entire county, state, or large city), since in that casethe location of the terminal being within or outside the large targetarea(s) would usually be certain.

Filtering of broadcast information based on location and time criteriamay be illustrated by the following examples. These examples utilizeequations (1) and (3) and assume that truth values (instead ofprobabilities) for individual location and time criteria are combined.

In a first example, a department store in a shopping mall may hold alarge sale on an upcoming Saturday and would like to advertise this saleto people who live nearby, to people who are likely to be present duringthe sale due to having visited the mall on recent previous Saturdays,and to people who are expected to be in the vicinity of the store duringsale hours. To target these users in an advertisement for the sale, thelocation and time criteria for the broadcast advertisement may be asfollows:

Location time criteria=LTC_(A) OR LTC_(B) OR LTC_(C).  Eq (9)

In equation (9), LTC_(A) may define a location and time criterion that aterminal (and hence a user) has been present at the mall on at least oneof three previous Saturdays with a probability of at least 50%. Thismeans that the user probably visits the mall at least occasionally onSaturdays and may be interested in the sales event. LTC_(B) may define alocation and time criterion that a terminal (and hence a user) has beenentirely present in the area (city) surrounding the mall on each ofthree previous nights with a probability of at least 70%. This makes itlikely that the user lives near the mall and again may have an interestin the sales event. LTC_(C) may define a location and time criterionthat a terminal (and hence a user) will be in the city area containingthe mall sometime during the sales event with a probability of at least50%.

LTC_(A) in equation (9) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁, PA₂, PA₃=present for some of the time period with a        probability of at least 50%,    -   L₁, L₂, L₃=area of the shopping mall,    -   D₁, D₂, D₃=each of three previous Saturdays, e.g., with start        time=9:00 am and end time=6:00 pm, and    -   LO₁, LO₂=logical OR.

LTC_(B) in equation (9) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁, PA₂, PA₃=present for the entire time period with a        probability of at least 70%,    -   L₁, L₂, L₃=area of the city containing the shopping mall,    -   D₁, D₂, D₃=each of three consecutive previous days, e.g.,        D₁=Monday, D₂=Tuesday, D₃=Wednesday, with start time=midnight        and end time=6:00 am, and    -   LO₁, LO₂=logical AND.

LTC_(C) in equation (9) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁=present for some of the time period with a probability of at        least 50%,    -   L₁=area of the city containing the shopping mall, and    -   D₁=the Saturday of the sale event, e.g., start time=9:00 am and        end time=6:00 pm.

LTC_(A), LTC_(B) and LTC_(C) may be combined using logical OR, as shownin equation (9), to obtain an expression that combines the threelocation and time criteria to target the intended users. The parametersfor the expression may be sent in the broadcast metadata for the saleadvertisement to target potentially interested users. Additionalinformation such as the type of items on sale, the level of pricediscounts, the credit interest rate, the name of the store, etc., mayalso be included in the broadcast metadata. The additional informationmay enable the terminals to filter based on other user preferences suchthat the users may be alerted only if both the location and timecriteria as well as other user preferences are satisfied.

In a second example, a theme park resort in a certain city may wish tooffer preferential discount priced tickets, purchasable in advance, toout-of-town visitors (e.g., on vacation) in order to compete in advanceagainst rival attractions in the same city. To achieve this, the resortmay advertise these tickets using the following location and timecriteria:

Location time criteria=LTC_(A) AND LTC_(B).  Eq (10)

In equation (10), LTC_(A) may define a location and time criterion thata user has been out of the target state or region for the last month andhence probably lives outside the target area. LTC_(B) may define alocation and time criterion that a user be in the vicinity of the themepark sometime in the next two months.

LTC_(A) in equation (10) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁=absent for the entire time period with a probability of at        least 90%,    -   L₁=state or region containing the theme park resort, and    -   D₁=one month time period immediately preceding the        advertisement.

LTC_(B) in equation (10) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁=present for some of the time period with a probability of at        least 30%,    -   L₁=city or other local area containing the theme park resort,        and    -   D₁=two month time period immediately following the        advertisement.

LTC_(A) and LTC_(B) may be combined using logical AND, as shown inequation (10), to obtain an expression that combines the two locationand time criteria to target the intended users. Additional information(e.g., price discounts, the name of the theme park resort, etc.) may beincluded in the broadcast metadata to improve filtering by theterminals.

In a third example, a gas station may offer discounted gas prices andmay desire to target drivers who live nearby, drivers who regularlytravel close by, and drivers who might travel nearby. The followinglocation and time criteria may be used for the discounted gas pricesoffer:

Location time criteria=LTC_(A) OR LTC_(B) OR LTC_(c).  Eq (11)

In equation (11), LTC_(A) may define a location and time criterion thata user has probably been in the general area of the gas station on eachof the seven preceding days and thus probably lives nearby. LTC_(B) maydefine a location and time criterion that a user has probably been veryclose to the gas station on each of three preceding weekdays and thuseither drives past the gas station regularly or lives or works close by.LTC_(C) may define a location and time criterion that a user willprobably be close to the gas station (e.g., drive past it) during thenext hour.

LTC_(A) in equation (11) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁, PA₂, PA₃, PA₄, PA₅, PA₆, PA₇=present for some of the time        period with a probability of at least 50%,    -   L₁, L₂, L₃, L₃, L₅, L₆, L₇=area of town containing the gas        station,    -   D₁, D₂, D₃, D₄, D₅, D₆, D₇=each of the seven preceding days,        e.g., D₁=Monday, D₂=Tuesday, D₃=Wednesday, D₄=Thursday,        D₅=Friday, D₆=Saturday, D₇=Sunday, with start time=00:00 am and        end time=23:59 pm, and    -   LO₁, LO₂, LO₃, LO₄, LO₅, LO₆=logical AND.

LTC_(B) in equation (11) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁, PA₂, PA₃=present for some of the time period with a        probability of at least 50%,    -   L₁, L₂, L₃=local area of gas station, e.g., restricted to own        street and adjacent streets,    -   D₁, D₂, D₃=each of three immediately preceding weekdays with        start time=00:00 am and end time=23:59 pm, and    -   LO₁, LO₂=logical AND.

LTC_(C) in equation (11) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁=present for some of the time period with a probability of at        least 50%,    -   L₁=local area of gas station, e.g., restricted to own street and        adjacent streets, and    -   D₁=one hour time period starting at the current time.

LTC_(A), LTC_(B) and LTC_(C) may be combined using logical OR, as shownin equation (11), to obtain an expression that combines the threelocation and time criteria to target the intended users. Additionalinformation (e.g., the price discounts at the gas station) may beincluded in the broadcast metadata to improve filtering by theterminals.

In a fourth example, a travel advisory bureau may wish to provide itssubscribers with a travel bulletin concerning the sudden closure of amajor highway due to an accident or road problem. The following locationand time criteria may be used by the bureau to target the intendedusers:

Location time criteria=LTC_(A) AND LTC_(B).  Eq (12)

In equation (12), LTC_(A) may define a location and time criterion thata user has a 25% chance of passing along or near the closed portion ofthe highway in the next 2 hours. LTC_(B) may define a location and timecriterion that a user has passed along or has been in proximity to theclosed portion of the highway on each of the two preceding days and thusconsidered as likely to regularly travel along this portion of thehighway.

LTC_(A) in equation (12) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁=present for some of the time with a probability of at least        25%,    -   L₁=closed portion of the highway, e.g., within 200 meters on        either side, and    -   D₁=two hour time period starting at the current time.

LTC_(B) in equation (12) may be defined with the following parameters inequation (1):

-   -   PA₁, PA₂=present for some of the time with a probability of at        least 50%,    -   L₁, L₂=closed portion of the highway, e.g., within 200 meters on        either side,    -   D₁, D₂=each of the two preceding days, and    -   LO₁=logical AND.

LTC_(A) and LTC_(B) may be combined using logical AND to obtain anexpression that combines the two location and time criteria to targetthe intended users. Broadcast metadata containing the location and timecriteria may be broadcast with the bulletin. Additional information(e.g., indicating a traffic advisory) may also be included in thebroadcast metadata to improve filtering by the terminals.

The broadcast metadata for location and time criteria for broadcastinformation may be sent in various manners. In one design, the broadcastmetadata may be sent via Mobile Broadcast Services in OMA, which isdescribed in a publicly available documentOMA-TS-BCAST_Services-V1_(—)0-20080430-D.

In one design, the broadcast metadata may be sent in a service guide.The service guide may include an element that may be used to specifyparameters for location and time criteria for reception of theassociated broadcast information. If a match occurs, then a terminal maygive higher priority to receiving and displaying the associatedbroadcast information to the user.

FIG. 2 shows an example transmission of a service guide with broadcastmetadata for location and time criteria. The service guide may includeService and Content fragments, where the Service fragments may refer toa whole class of broadcast information and the Content fragments maycontain or refer to specific types of broadcast information. Eachfragment may carry different information for broadcast programs, where abroadcast program may be a film clip, a TV show, news bulletin, or othertype of broadcast information with a particular transmission schedule. ABroadcast Metadata fragment may carry broadcast metadata for locationand time criteria for different broadcast programs that may be sentafter this fragment. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the broadcastmetadata may include other information such as language, subjectcategories (e.g., weather, news, traffic related, sports, emergencyrelated, advertisement, etc.), media type (e.g., text, video, image,etc.), duration, size, transmission schedule, parental rating, etc.,related to the associated broadcast information.

The location and time criteria described herein may allow fortransmission of broadcast information and/or broadcast metadata prior toan event related to the broadcast information. The broadcast informationmay be presented to the user at the time of reception and/or at latertimes.

FIG. 3 shows example transmission and presentation of broadcastinformation containing an advertisement of a sales event occurring from8:00 am to 12:00 pm on a given Saturday. In this example, the broadcastmetadata and broadcast information for the advertisement may be sentduring a distribution window prior to the sales event. This distributionwindow may be selected to improve utilization of the available networkresources. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the distribution window isbetween 2:00 am and 2:30 am during off-peak traffic hours on Saturday. Aterminal may download the broadcast metadata and broadcast informationduring the distribution window. If there is a match for the location andtime criteria in the broadcast metadata, then the broadcast informationmay be presented to the user prior to and/or during the sales event.Sending the broadcast information and broadcast metadata ahead of thesales event may (i) avoid or reduce broadcasting during the sales event,which may occur during peak traffic hours, and (ii) give users moreadvance notice of the sales event. If the advertisement is sent duringthe sales event itself, as also illustrated in FIG. 3, then the cost forsending the advertisement may be higher and the advance notice to usersmay be less. Hence, there may be an advantage to sending theadvertisement ahead of time, which may be filtered with more preciselocation and time criteria in the broadcast metadata.

FIG. 4 shows a design of a process 400 for receiving broadcastinformation. Process 400 may be performed by a terminal (as describedbelow) or some other entity.

The terminal may receive broadcast metadata associated with broadcastinformation (block 412). The terminal may receive the broadcast metadataprior to the broadcast information, with the broadcast information, viaa service guide for broadcast programs comprising the broadcastinformation, etc. The terminal may obtain location and time criteria forthe broadcast information from the broadcast metadata (block 414). Theterminal may filter the broadcast information based on the location andtime criteria (block 416).

The location and time criteria may comprise at least one location andtime criterion. The terminal may evaluate each location and timecriterion as follows. The terminal may determine a location criterionand an associated time criterion for the location and time criterion.The location criterion may comprise a target location and a presence orabsence requirement. The time criterion may identify a time period inthe past, present, or future in which the location criterion applies.The terminal may determine its location within the time period. Thislocation may be a prior location if the time period is in the past, acurrent location if the time period is in the present, or a futurelocation if the time period is in the future. The terminal may maintaina history of its locations. The terminal may determine its priorlocation by interpolating at least one location in the history and/ormay determine its future location based on the history of locations. Theterminal may also determine its location in other manners. In any case,the terminal may determine whether its location meets the locationcriterion, e.g., by determining whether its location is within oroutside the target location as indicated by the presence or absencerequirement. The location and time criteria may further comprise atleast one logical operation for the at least one location and timecriterion. The terminal may combine results of the at least one locationand time criterion in accordance with the at least one logical operationto obtain a final result for the location and time criteria.

The location and time criteria may be expressed in various manners. Inone design, the location and time criteria may have the form shown inequation (1), and each location and time criterion may have the formshown in equation (2). In another design, the location and time criteriamay have the form shown in equation (3). In yet another design, thelocation and time criteria may have a recursive form shown in equation(4) or (6). The location and time criteria may also be expressed inother manners.

The location and time criteria may be flexibly defined. For example, thelocation and time criteria may comprise a first location and timecriterion covering a prior location of the terminal and a secondlocation and time criterion covering a future location of the terminal.As another example, the location and time criteria may comprise a firstlocation and time criterion requiring the terminal to be within a firsttarget area and a second location and time criterion requiring theterminal to be outside a second target area.

The terminal may skip receiving the broadcast information if thelocation and time criteria are not satisfied (block 418). The terminalmay receive the broadcast information at a first time instant and maypresent the broadcast information at a second time instant if thelocation and time criteria are satisfied (block 420). The second timeinstant may be the same as or later than the first time instant. Thebroadcast information may relate to an event occurring over a designatedtime interval and may be received prior to the designated time intervaland presented before or during the designated time interval.

The terminal may obtain additional filtering data from the broadcastmetadata. The terminal may filter the broadcast information basedfurther on the additional filtering data and at least one userpreference. The terminal may decide whether to skip receiving thebroadcast information in block 418 or to receive and present thebroadcast information in block 420 based further on the results of thefiltering with the additional filtering data.

A user may decide whether or not to employ location and time criteriafor filtering broadcast information based on privacy issues, terminalcapabilities, and other factors. If the user decides not to use locationand time criteria, then the terminal may ignore any location and timecriteria contained in broadcast metadata and may determine its interestin any broadcast based on other criteria in the metadata. If the userdecides to use location and time criteria for filtering broadcastinformation, then the terminal may retain historic locations and/orperform future location prediction in order to make use of thesecriteria. In this case, although the terminal may know the user's pastlocations and may be able to predict future location, the data can bekept secure (e.g., possibly encrypted and stored in a secure memory)such that it is inaccessible by unauthorized parties. The data may beprovided to certain authorized parties (e.g., friends and family) using,for example, capabilities defined in SUPL for historic locationretrieval. However, in this case, the user may explicitly grantpermission (e.g., as supported in SUPL) and may be able to revoke suchpermission.

The location and time criteria described herein refer to the location ofa user at particular times, e.g., at current time or at various times inthe past and/or future. Some users may have an interest in locations inwhich they are not present, e.g., interest in home and/or work locationsduring a trip away. This may be especially significant for emergencybroadcasts (e.g., concerning a hurricane, earthquake, fire or flood). Inaddition, some users may have an interest in some criteria provided inbroadcast metadata that have no location and/or time association, e.g.,interest in particular sports events regardless of where and when theseoccur. To support these interests, terminals may offer the users thepossibility of ignoring location and time criteria when certain othercriteria appear in broadcast metadata (e.g., certain sporting events).In addition, the user may be allowed to specify location and/or timecriteria that are of interest when combined with other criteria that mayhave no relation to the location of the terminal, e.g., a home or worklocation in association with an emergency category of broadcastinformation. Such flexibility may be used to avoid location and timecriteria applicable to the terminal from filtering out particular typesof broadcast information of interest to the user.

An original source/provider of any broadcast information (e.g.,advertiser, news service, public warning service, etc.) may supply thebroadcast information and some description of it from which broadcastmetadata can be derived. However, the broadcast provider may not providethe broadcast metadata itself (e.g., in the form in which it is providedto terminals) but may instead allow a broadcast network operator or aseparate service bureau to derive the metadata from a simplerdescription provided by the broadcast provider. The details conveyedinside the broadcast information and inside the broadcast metadata mayalso be transparent to the broadcast network and may thus reduce impactsto the broadcast network operator.

For locations that are very extensive (e.g., area of an entire city), itmay be possible to know whether a user is inside or outside the area atthe current time or at some time in the past or future with almost 100%probability. In such cases, it may be less ambiguous for the broadcastsource to simply indicate a probably of 100% or close to 100% (e.g.,95%) as opposed to some lower probability. The exception may be caseswhere the user is (or was or will be) close to the edge of the area(within a “border area”). In these cases, different terminalimplementations and different position determination methods may producedifferent results depending on their accuracy and reliability. Forexample, a user A just inside a target area may be assigned aprobability of 70% of being in the area while another user B justoutside the target area may be assigned a probability of 95% of being inthe area due to error in location. If the broadcast provider had defineda probability of at least 90% of being within the target area, then userA may be regarded wrongly as being outside the area while user B may beregarded wrongly as being inside the area. If the real targeted usersare those deep within the area, then the unpredictability for users onthe border may not matter. As an example, for a highway closure warning,the main targeted users may be those already on the highway or close toit and not those a significant distance away.

In certain cases, the broadcast provider may desire 100% certainty inreaching the right set of users. To enable 100% certainty, the broadcastprovider may decide to over advertise the broadcast or under advertiseit. With over advertisement, the target area contained in the broadcastmetadata may be a geographically expanded version of the real targetlocation area to ensure that all users in the real target area will benotified at the expense of some users outside this area will also benotified. The broadcast information may then inform users if they areimpacted, e.g., via a list of streets affected for an electricity/wateroutage warning in a certain region of a city. With under advertisement,the target area contained in the broadcast metadata may be ageographically reduced version of the real target area to ensure thatall users notified of the broadcast will be in the real target area atthe expense of some users in this area will not be notified. Underadvertisement may be useful for broadcast providers of an informationalor entertainment nature (e.g., news and film clips) that will be sentwithin a restricted area where the broadcast providers do not wish toalert users who may not be able to later receive this broadcast becausethey are on the border of the target area.

FIG. 5 shows a design of a process 500 for sending broadcastinformation. Process 500 may be performed by a network entity such as abroadcast center (as described below) or by some other entity. Thenetwork entity may determine broadcast metadata for broadcastinformation, with the broadcast metadata comprising location and timecriteria used by terminals to filter the broadcast information (block512). The location and time criteria may comprise at least one locationand time criterion and may have the form shown in equation (1), (3), (4)or (6). Each location and time criterion may have the form shown inequation (2) or (5). The network entity may send the broadcast metadataand the broadcast information to the terminals (block 514). Thebroadcast information may relate to an event occurring over a designatedtime interval. The network entity may send the broadcast metadata andthe broadcast information prior to the designated time interval in orderto improve network resource utilization.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a design of terminal 110, network 120,location server/center 140, and broadcast center 150 in FIG. 1. Forsimplicity, FIG. 6 shows (i) one controller/processor 610, one memory612, and one transmitter/receiver (TMTR/RCVR) 614 for terminal 110, (ii)one controller/processor 620, one memory 622, one transmitter/receiver624, and one communication (Comm) unit 626 for network 120, (iii) onecontroller/processor 630, one memory 632, and one communication unit 634for location server/center 140, and (iv) one controller/processor 650,one memory 652, and one communication unit 654 for broadcast center 150.In general, each entity may include any number of controllers,processors, memories, transceivers, communication units, etc.

On the downlink, base stations in network 120 may transmit traffic data,broadcast information, broadcast metadata, signaling, and pilot toterminals within their coverage areas. These various types of data maybe processed by processor 620, conditioned by transmitter 624, andtransmitted on the downlink. At terminal 110, the downlink signals fromthe base stations may be received via an antenna, conditioned byreceiver 614, and processed by processor 610 to recover the varioustypes of information sent by the base stations. Processor 610 mayperform or direct process 400 in FIG. 4 and/or other processes for thetechniques described herein. Memories 612 and 622 may store programcodes and data for terminal 110 and network 120, respectively. On theuplink, terminal 110 may transmit traffic data, signaling, and pilot tothe base stations in network 120. These various types of data may beprocessed by processor 610, conditioned by transmitter 614, andtransmitted on the uplink. At network 120, the uplink signals fromterminal 110 and other terminals may be received and conditioned byreceiver 624 and further processed by processor 620 to recover thevarious types of information sent by the terminal. Network 120 maycommunicate with other network entities via communication unit 626.

Broadcast network 130 may be implemented with one or more transmitters,one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, and one ormore communication units that may operate in similar manner as those fornetwork 120.

Within location server/center 140, processor 630 may perform positioningfor terminals, provide assistance data to terminals, support locationservices for terminals and other LCS clients, etc. Memory 632 may storeprogram codes and data for the location center. Communication unit 634may allow location server/center 140 to communicate with other entities.

Within broadcast center 150, processor 650 may generate and sendbroadcast metadata and broadcast information. Processor 650 may performor direct process 500 in FIG. 5 and/or other processes for thetechniques described herein. Memory 652 may store program codes and datafor the broadcast center. Communication unit 654 may allow the broadcastcenter to communicate with other entities.

The location and time criteria described herein may provide certainadvantages. The location and time criteria may provide a more effectivefiltering mechanism for the terminals. This may allow the terminals torecover broadcast information of potential interest to the users. Thelocation and time criteria may also allow the broadcast information tobe better targeted to the intended users, as illustrated by the examplesabove. This may result in more effective delivery of broadcastinformation to the users. The location and time criteria may also allowfor more efficient transmission of the broadcast metadata and/or thebroadcast information, e.g., during off-peak traffic hours, asillustrated by the example shown in FIG. 3. This may improve utilizationof the available network resources.

The location and time criteria described herein may provide advantagesover current location criteria that apply to only current location of aterminal. The current location criteria may include one or more targetareas for reception of the associated broadcast information. The targetarea may apply to the current location of the terminal during thebroadcast period. The current location criteria may have variouslimitations. First, the future location (and not the current location)of the terminal may be the relevant filtering criterion in many cases.For example, the time during which an advertisement (or a traffic alert)is valid may be unrelated to the broadcast time of the advertisement (ortraffic alert). As an example of current location criteria, anadvertisement for a sales event occurring from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon thenext Saturday may be sent during 7:00 am to 7:05 am that Saturday orduring 5:00 pm to 5:30 pm the previous Friday and may prompt a terminalto check its location between 7:00 am to 7:05 am on Saturday or 5:00 pmto 5:30 pm on Friday, which are not the time or day of the sale. Thus,it may not be feasible to deliver the advertisement in advance using thecurrent location criteria, which may impact efficient utilization ofnetwork resources and degree of advance notice to users. In addition,the advertisement may need to be sent multiple times during the salehours in order to target potential users with the current locationcriteria. Furthermore, the current location criteria may fail to takeadvantage of (i) past location behavior (especially of a repetitivenature), if available, which may serve as a reliable predictor of futurelocation, and/or (ii) capability to predict future location. Thelocation and time criteria described herein may overcome the variouslimitations of the current location criteria.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performedwith a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Ageneral-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that theprocessor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by ageneral purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carryor store desired program code means in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Variousmodifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other variations without departing from the scope of thedisclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to theexamples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widestscope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

1. A method of receiving broadcast information, comprising: receivingbroadcast metadata associated with broadcast information; obtaininglocation and time criteria for the broadcast information from thebroadcast metadata; and filtering the broadcast information based on thelocation and time criteria.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thelocation and time criteria comprise at least one location and timecriterion, and wherein the filtering the broadcast informationcomprises, for each location and time criterion, determining a locationcriterion and a time criterion for the location and time criterion, thetime criterion indicating a time period in which the location criterionapplies, determining a location of a terminal within the time period,and determining whether the location of the terminal meets the locationcriterion.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining thelocation of the terminal comprises determining a prior location of theterminal if the time period is in the past, determining a currentlocation of the terminal if the time period is in the present, anddetermining a future location of the terminal if the time period is inthe future.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining whetherthe location of the terminal meets the location criterion comprisesdetermining a target location and a presence or absence requirement forthe location criterion, and determining whether the location of theterminal is within or outside the target location as indicated by thepresence or absence requirement.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein thelocation and time criteria further comprise at least one logicaloperation for the at least one location and time criterion, and whereinthe filtering the broadcast information further comprises combiningresults of the at least one location and time criterion in accordancewith the at least one logical operation to obtain a final result for thelocation and time criteria.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thelocation and time criteria comprise a first location and time criterioncovering a prior location of a terminal and a second location and timecriterion covering a future location of the terminal.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the location and time criteria comprise a firstlocation and time criterion requiring a terminal to be within a firsttarget area and a second location and time criterion requiring theterminal to be outside a second target area.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the location and time criteria comprise at least one locationand time criterion, each location and time criterion having a form:PA at L during D, where L denotes a target location for the location andtime criterion, D denotes a time period for the location and timecriterion, and PA denotes a presence or absence requirement for thelocation and time criterion.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thelocation and time criteria have a form:(PA₁ at L₁ during D₁)LO₁(PA₂ at L₂ during D₂) . . . LO_(N-1) (PA_(N) atL_(N) during D_(N)), where N is the number of location and time criteriabeing combined, L_(n) denotes a target location for n-th location andtime criterion, for 1≦n≦N. D_(n) denotes a time period for the n-thlocation and time criterion, PA_(n) denotes a presence or absencerequirement for the n-th location and time criterion, and LO_(n) denotesa logical operation.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the location andtime criteria have a form:LTC_(A)LO_(A)LTC_(B)LO_(B)LTC_(C) . . . where LTC_(i) denotes a locationand time criterion, for iεA, B, C, . . . , and LO_(i) denotes a logicaloperation.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the location and timecriteria have a recursive form:Expression(i){binary operation Expression(j)}, where { . . . } denotesan optional extension, Expression( ) denotes {Expression( ) binaryoperation Expression( )}, or {unary operation Expression( )}, or (singlelocation and time criterion), binary operation denotes an operation ontwo arguments, and unary operation denotes an operation on one argument.12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: maintaining a history oflocations of a terminal; and determining a prior location of theterminal by interpolating at least one location in the history.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: maintaining a history oflocations of a terminal; and determining a future location of theterminal based on the history of locations.
 14. The method of claim 1,further comprising: obtaining additional filtering data from thebroadcast metadata; and filtering the broadcast information basedfurther on the additional filtering data and at least one userpreference.
 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: skippingreceiving the broadcast information if the location and time criteriaare not satisfied.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving the broadcast information at a first time instant; andpresenting the broadcast information at a second time instant the sameas or later than the first time instant if the location and timecriteria are satisfied.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thebroadcast information relates to an event occurring over a designatedtime interval, and wherein the broadcast information is received priorto the designated time interval and is presented during the designatedtime interval.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving thebroadcast metadata comprises receiving the broadcast metadata prior tothe broadcast information.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein thereceiving the broadcast metadata comprises receiving the broadcastmetadata with the broadcast information.
 20. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving the broadcast metadata comprises receiving thebroadcast metadata via a service guide for broadcast programs comprisingthe broadcast information.
 21. An apparatus for wireless communication,comprising: at least one processor configured to receive broadcastmetadata associated with broadcast information, to obtain location andtime criteria for the broadcast information from the broadcast metadata,and to filter the broadcast information based on the location and timecriteria.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to determine a location criterion and a timecriterion for a location and time criterion, the time criterionindicating a time period in which the location criterion applies, todetermine a location of a terminal within the time period, and todetermine whether the location of the terminal meets the locationcriterion.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to determine a target location and a presence orabsence requirement for the location criterion, and to determine whetherthe location of the terminal is within or outside the target location asindicated by the presence or absence requirement.
 24. The apparatus ofclaim 21, wherein the location and time criteria comprise at least onelocation and time criterion, each location and time criterion having aform:PA at L during D, where L denotes a target location for the location andtime criterion, D denotes a time period for the location and timecriterion, and PA denotes a presence or absence requirement for thelocation and time criterion.
 25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein theat least one processor is configured to receive the broadcastinformation at a first time instant, and to present the broadcastinformation at a second time instant the same as or later than the firsttime instant if the location and time criteria are satisfied.
 26. Anapparatus for receiving broadcast information, comprising: means forreceiving broadcast metadata associated with broadcast information;means for obtaining location and time criteria for the broadcastinformation from the broadcast metadata; and means for filtering thebroadcast information based on the location and time criteria.
 27. Theapparatus of claim 26, wherein the location and time criteria compriseat least one location and time criterion, and wherein the means forfiltering the broadcast information comprises, for each location andtime criterion, means for determining a location criterion and a timecriterion for the location and time criterion, the time criterionindicating a time period in which the location criterion applies, meansfor determining a location of a terminal within the time period, andmeans for determining whether the location of the terminal meets thelocation criterion.
 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the means fordetermining whether the location of the terminal meets the locationcriterion comprises means for determining a target location and apresence or absence requirement for the location criterion, and meansfor determining whether the location of the terminal is within oroutside the target location as indicated by the presence or absencerequirement.
 29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the location andtime criteria comprise at least one location and time criterion, eachlocation and time criterion having a form:PA at L during D, where L denotes a target location for the location andtime criterion, D denotes a time period for the location and timecriterion, and PA denotes a presence or absence requirement for thelocation and time criterion.
 30. The apparatus of claim 26, furthercomprising: means for receiving the broadcast information at a firsttime instant; and means for presenting the broadcast information at asecond time instant the same as or later than the first time instant ifthe location and time criteria are satisfied.
 31. A computer programproduct, comprising: a computer-readable medium comprising: code forcausing at least one computer to receive broadcast metadata associatedwith broadcast information, code for causing the at least one computerto obtain location and time criteria for the broadcast information fromthe broadcast metadata, and code for causing the at least one computerto filter the broadcast information based on the location and timecriteria.
 32. The computer program product of claim 31, thecomputer-readable medium further comprising: code for causing the atleast one computer to determine a location criterion and a timecriterion for a location and time criterion, the time criterionindicating a time period in which the location criterion applies, codefor causing the at least one computer to determine a location of aterminal within the time period, and code for causing the at least onecomputer to determine whether the location of the terminal meets thelocation criterion.
 33. A method of sending broadcast information,comprising: determining broadcast metadata for broadcast information,the broadcast metadata comprising location and time criteria used byterminals to filter the broadcast information; and sending the broadcastmetadata and the broadcast information to the terminals.
 34. The methodof claim 33, wherein the location and time criteria comprise at leastone location and time criterion, each location and time criterioncomprising a location criterion and a time criterion indicating a timeperiod in which the location criterion applies.
 35. The method of claim34, wherein the location criterion comprises a target location and apresence or absence requirement for the target location.
 36. The methodof claim 33, wherein the location and time criteria comprise at leastone location and time criterion, each location and time criterion havinga form:PA at L during D, where L denotes a target location for the location andtime criterion, D denotes a time period for the location and timecriterion, and PA denotes a presence or absence requirement for thelocation and time criterion.
 37. The method of claim 33, wherein thebroadcast information relates to an event occurring over a designatedtime interval, and wherein the broadcast metadata and the broadcastinformation are sent prior to or after the designated time interval. 38.An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: at least oneprocessor configured to determine broadcast metadata for broadcastinformation, the broadcast metadata comprising location and timecriteria used by terminals to filter the broadcast information, and tosend the broadcast metadata and the broadcast information to theterminals.
 39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the broadcastinformation relates to an event occurring over a designated timeinterval, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to sendthe broadcast metadata and the broadcast information prior or after tothe designated time interval.